


Standing By

by afsalta



Series: Post-Episode Fics [1]
Category: Grey's Anatomy
Genre: Domestic, F/M, parenting
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-11-23
Updated: 2020-11-23
Packaged: 2021-03-10 00:55:00
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,470
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27685222
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/afsalta/pseuds/afsalta
Summary: Amelia struggles to deal with 4 kids on her own while Link quarantines. Set after 17x03.
Relationships: Atticus Lincoln/Amelia Shepherd
Series: Post-Episode Fics [1]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/2051829
Comments: 2
Kudos: 38





	Standing By

“Okay, Elle, come sit down for a while, and then I can play with you, okay?” The little girl pouted up at her aunt, crossing her arms as she sat down on the couch. “I need 10 minutes.”

“I don’t want to play with you, I wanna play with mommy.” Amelia sighed and brushed a strand of the girl’s messy hair back.

“Mommy’s still in the hospital, Elle. She can’t play now.”

“Then I will play with Aunt Maggie. Or Uncle Link.” 

“They can’t play, because Auntie Maggie is helping mommy get better, and Uncle Link was at the hospital and he has to make sure he isn’t sick. It’s just me here.”

“I miss mommy.” The brunette bit the inside of her cheek, nodding slowly at her niece.

“I miss her, too.” Amelia pulled the blanket off the back of the couch, draping it around Ellis’ body. “I need to go take a shower. Stay downstairs, okay?”

“Okay.” She stood up, quickly walking towards the bathroom and stepping in the shower for the first time in recent memory. Amelia hummed a sigh of relief as the water hit her body, relaxing under the warm stream and shampooing her hair. She ran conditioner through the ends of her hair, just to be interrupted by cries coming through on the baby monitor. 

“Oh, come on-” She turned off the shower and grabbed her robe off of the bathroom floor, wrapping it around her body and leaving the bathroom with the baby monitor in her hand. “I’m here, Scout.” Amelia picked up the baby from his crib, rocking him back and forth before realizing he was hungry. She sat down in the rocking chair, pulling down her robe as Scout latched on.

“Auntie Amelia!” The door was pushed open again, Bailey running through with a grin on his face. 

“Shh, Scout’s eating.” Bailey stopped and tiptoed further into the room before whispering to his Aunt. 

“Can you make mac and cheese?” Amelia looked at her nephew and forced a smile onto her face, ignoring how tired and exhausted she felt inside.

“Can you give me a few minutes? Scout needs to eat, first.” The boy nodded, quickly running out of the room after, yelling to his siblings that they were having lunch soon. Amelia leaned back into the chair and took a deep breath while looking down at her son. “Mom can’t catch a break, huh?” She waited until he had finished eating and threw a cloth over her shoulder, softly patting his back to burp him. “Okay, time to go downstairs, buddy.” She grabbed the baby carrier and strapped it onto herself, placing the baby into it. A moment of happiness passed over her as Scout babbled on her chest and looked up at her with his wide blue eyes. After starting a pot of water, she walked around the kitchen in an attempt to keep Scout from fussing, setting up a movie on the television to distract the older kids.

“Auntie Amelia, you said you would play with me,” Ellis whispered, staring up at her Aunt.

“I know, but I have to make you guys lunch first,” she responded while walking over to stir the pasta. “Elle, there’s only one of me, and there’s four of you. Why don’t you go watch Frozen with Zola and Bailey? We can play later, after lunch.” The little girl pouted.

“I wanna play now.”

“You could ask Zola or Bailey to play with you, I need to finish your lunch. I can’t play right now.” Amelia heard a sniffle and looked down to see her niece crying. “Elle, please don’t cry. Lunch is almost done and then we can play after you eat.” She took a deep breath. “Look, I’m gonna get bowls now so you can eat, please don’t cry.” Amelia hurried over to the cabinet and pulled out 3 bowls, quickly spooning the mac and cheese into each bowl. “Here, go eat, okay?” Ellis took the bowl, walking towards the couch. “Zola, Bailey, food!” The other two kids came running quickly, taking the bowls from their Aunt.

“Thank you, Auntie Amelia.” Zola gave Amelia a smile before returning to the living room with her siblings. The brunette looked down to see her son asleep and gently moved to place him inside the pack and play in the living room. 

“Zo, can you let me know if he starts fussing?” Zola nodded and turned her attention back to the television as Amelia walked into the kitchen. She busied herself in cleaning the pot, attempting to control her emotions.

“Negative!” The back door burst open as Link walked through with a big smile. “My test was-” He noticed her standing in the kitchen, tears falling down her cheeks. “Amelia-” Link rushed towards her, tightly wrapping his arms around her small figure. She fell into his embrace while crying as she buried her face into his chest. “Hey, it’s okay, I’m here,” Link whispered and kissed the top of her head. He waited another moment before loosening his embrace and using his hand to tilt her head up to look at him. “What’s wrong?”

“Ev-everything, I can’t, I can’t do this-” Link placed his hands on the sides of her face.

“Breathe, in,” he paused, watching as she took a shaky breath, “and out.” He took a few more breaths with her and then removed his hands from her face, placing them on her shoulders. “Okay. Tell me what’s wrong.” Amelia looked up at him with teary eyes and took another breath. 

“The kids are going stir-crazy and they just, they just want Meredith to come back but I don’t know when she’s going to-or even if she’s going to be better, and I don’t know what to tell them anymore, and Scout’s been fussing all day and I was just trying to take a shower and have 10 minutes to myself and he woke up, and I still have conditioner in my hair and I just don’t know how I’m gonna keep doing this, Link.” She paused for a moment, wiping her eyes before they widened in confusion. “Wait, did your test come back?” He nodded with a half-smile on his face.

“Negative. I came in to tell you.” Her lips turned up into a small smile as she hugged him again. “How about, I watch all of the kids for the next however long, and you go take a long shower and relax and have some time for you.” 

“I’m not gonna make you do that, Link. They’re a lot of work.”

“I know, and you’ve been watching all of them for the past few days. I can handle them for an hour or two.” She stepped back to look at him. “You deserve a break, Amelia.” The brunette looked up at her boyfriend.

“Thank you,” she whispered, leaning up to kiss him. “Alright, I’m gonna shower, but let me know if-”

“Don’t worry about it. Go relax.”

Amelia pushed open the bedroom door, smiling at her boyfriend and closing the door behind her. “They’re all asleep?” He nodded, lifting up the covers next to him for her to lay down.

“I had to promise a trip to the park tomorrow, but they need to get out of this house anyway.” She climbed onto the bed and settled into his arms. “Are you feeling a little better?”

“A little, it was nice to have some time to myself. Thank you, again.” Link smiled softly as he looked down at her, wrapping his arms around her tighter. “You know, I used to hate sleeping like this.”

“Hm?”

“Yeah, I didn’t like being so close to someone. And then I thought I just liked it because of the hormones and wanting to be near you all the time, but I think it’s just because this is where I feel safe, now. I had a hard time sleeping while you were waiting for the test results.” Link ran a hand through her hair. “Tonight, I just wanna sleep, but we’re definitely having sex tomorrow.” He laughed.

“Okay.” She turned in his embrace, placing her head on his chest so that she was looking at him.

“I love you,” Amelia whispered, “I’m glad you’re okay, and that you’re here to help me because I don’t know how I’d do this without you.” He brushed a strand of her hair behind her ear.

“I’ll always be here. I love you, to-” He paused as Scout’s cries came through on the baby monitor, Amelia groaning at the noise. He stopped her from getting up. “I got it. Scout needs some time with his Dad.” Link quickly stood up, walking out of the bedroom with the baby monitor in his hand as Amelia grinned widely, finally able to relax.

**Author's Note:**

> heyyyyy this is short but i wanted to post something :)


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